


Life

by INMH



Series: after the evacuation (pacifist ending) [30]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Cameos, Drama, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Strong Language, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-20 16:06:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16140728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INMH/pseuds/INMH
Summary: An android awakens.





	Life

**Author's Note:**

> ngl I kinda based Penelope off of Penelope Guerrero from The Purge series on USA. She’s a little cutie and pretty much the only reason I watch the show.
> 
> (my life at this point is basically "oh, a cute kid, let's base a non-canon android child's appearance after theirs")

“ _Good evening Detroit, this is Michael Webb for Channel 16’s News at 9. We’re interrupting this current broadcast to bring you the latest on the events at Jericho this evening. We’re going live to Joss Douglas in Detroit, on the scene at Jericho where thousands of androids are being delivered by Cyberlife and are about to be ‘awakened’. Joss, how’s it going out there?_ ”  
  
“ _Thanks, Michael: I’m standing at Jericho headquarters awaiting the arrival and activation of five- **thousand** new androids, ranging from those designed to play sports to those designed to look like young teenagers and pre-teens. It’s anticipated that the, uh, ‘waking-up’ process is going to take a while, but as you can see behind me a great deal of Detroit’s androids have shown up to make the newcomers feel welcome- you may spot some familiar faces there, such as Markus. Uh, as you can also see, there’s a good number of protestors that have shown up as well, expressing their **considerable** displeasure at the release of so many androids into Detroit. I’m seeing a few familiar faces there, too- I believe that’s Caroline Phillips up at the megaphone, and I may have just seen Gordon Penwick with some of his flock. Lot of energy here as the trucks are being lined up, and hopefully I may be able to get a word with an android that’s just been woken up, as I’m not sure most people have experience with androids that are just now being brought into the world, so to speak. Until then, I’ll be here, Michael.”_  
  
“ _Thanks, Joss, we’ll check back in with you soon_.”  
  
[---]  
  
“ _Wake up._ ”  
  
Penelope opened her eyes.  
  
The first thing she saw was a face: A man’s face, with bronze skin and two different eyes, green and blue. He smiled at her, and it was friendly and warm.  
  
“I’m Markus- what’s your name?”  
  
She smiled. “Penelope,” She said, her first real word.  
  
“Welcome, Penelope.” He held out his hand, and she took it. “Be careful as you step down, it’s icy.”  
  
Penelope stepped slowly down the few short steps, releasing Markus’s hand only once she’d carefully made it to the ground. Sensations assaulted her:  
  
 _Cold_ , it was so cold, twenty-nine degree Fahrenheit, enough for her to shiver and close in on herself.  
  
 _Wet_ , specks of moisture on her face and hair and arms, because snow was falling gently from the sky; her feet, clad in sneakers rather than boots, were quickly soaked.  
  
 _Bright,_ because it was nighttime and bright, burning lamps had been erected, and their light refracted off the snow and made it difficult to see.  
  
Penelope squeezed her eyes shut, looked directly up to avoid the light.  
  
When she opened her eyes again, all she saw was the night sky, faint clouds smeared across the black as they sprinkled snow onto the city below. The moon was faint with all the man-made lights around her, but its glow was still visible.  
  
For a moment Penelope smiled up at the sky, pleasantly entranced by the sight of the snow. How beautiful it was; how _peaceful_ it was.  
  
And then the noise came in.  
  
Talking. Shouting. Screaming.  
  
Penelope turned her gaze earthwards again, and saw that several yards away there was a crowd of people ( _humans_ ), set behind barriers ( **DETROIT CITY PD DO NOT CROSS** ), yelling and waving signs with jagged words, written in marker, that said  
  
 **NO MORE ANDROIDS.**  
  
 **IMMORTALITY IS UNNATURAL.**  
  
 **WE DON’T BLEED THE SAME COLOR.**  
  
There were other signs with no words, just pictures: Penelope’s vision blurred as she tried to examine them all, the colors and movement pulling her attention back and forth. Coupled with the noise, it was too overwhelming to process properly.  
  
A hand closed on her shoulder, and Penelope started slightly; a blond, male android was smiling at her. “Ignore them,” he said. “The police won’t let them too close.”  
  
She cocked her head at him. “Why are they here?”  
  
The older android hesitated. “…They knew you and the others were being woken up tonight,” He said, referring to the other young androids leaving the large truck nearby. “And they don’t believe there should be more of us than there already are.” He patted her shoulder, smiling thinning a little. “Just ignore them.”  
  
Penelope nodded absently, even as she focused on them harder.  
  
“ _These! Are not! People!_ ” An older woman was yelling into a megaphone. “ _They are machines! They are dangerous! Don’t be fooled by their appearances!_ ”  
  
Though she had never seen herself in a mirror, Penelope knew what she looked like- indeed, she saw several other girls that were physically identical to her exiting the truck: She looked like a teenaged girl with tanned skin, straight, dark hair, and dark eyes. She _looked_ like a human teenage girl, but Penelope understood what she really was: Certain facts, details, peripheral but crucial knowledge of the world were programmed into her. She knew that the yelling humans beyond the barriers were ‘ _protestors_ ’, that the men in uniform keeping them back were ‘ _police officers_ ’, and that by ‘ _immortality_ ’ they were referring to the idea that androids could not die- she even knew enough to know that that was a flawed and overly simplistic view of reality. She knew what an android was, and understood that she was one; what was shakier, in this moment and time, was precisely what being an android _meant_ in the context of her existence.  
  
Penelope existed- she was aware, she had a sense of self, and she was alive.  
  
And Cyberlife had programmed enough background knowledge into her for her to know that this sentiment was controversial.  
  
“ _Stop staring, asshole!_ ”  
  
Penelope jumped, startled. She thought the shot had been directed at her; but after a moment of looking around, she saw another android, a boy her age with pale skin and chestnut hair. He was standing utterly still, staring at the roaring crowd with a strange expression- and his LED was yellow. Was he frightened? Was he confused? Was he overwhelmed by the shouting? Penelope didn’t know.  
  
But she did know that there were a few people in the crowd that were bothered by it. They were jeering at him: “What are you, malfunctioning? Cyberlife not make you right? Stop staring at us, you freak!”  
  
His LED flickered red.  
  
Without thinking, Penelope strode over and closed a hand around his wrist. “Hey,” She said softly, “Hey, come on, come this way, there’s-”  
  
 _WHACK._  
  
Pain exploded in her cheek and jaw, and Penelope landed hard on her side in the snow, nearly yanking the boy-android down with her. Her elbow sank through it and scraped against the pavement below, strained the fabric of her thin sweatshirt. For a moment she couldn’t move, as frozen as the boy had been in the face of the crowd, processing the first true pain she had ever felt: The way it radiated over her cheek and jaw from the point of impact, the way it was so overwhelming that she couldn’t feel anything else, not her skin or her teeth. Something dripped off the bridge of her nose- she was crying.  
  
Someone- not the boy-android, who had let go of her hand, but someone much bigger and stronger and surer- hooked their hand under her arms and pulled her up. “It’s okay,” Said a man’s rough voice. “It’s alright, you’re alright.” He brushed some of the snow and grit off of her, gray hair glinting in the harsh lighting. “You bleeding? You’re not bleeding, you’re good. Let’s get you inside, huh?”  
  
Penelope didn’t respond. She let him lead her inside, into a weakly-lit building that had seen better days and sat her down on a bench. A dark-haired female android stepped forward. “What happened?”  
  
“Ah, some asshole nailed her with a rock,” The man grunted. “I think she’s okay, physically-speaking, just freaked out. Can I leave her with you? I gotta get back out there and make sure no one else does the same.”  
  
The android shooed him away. “It’s fine, I’ve got her.” She sat down and put an arm around Penelope’s shoulders, smiling gently. “My name’s Kara.”  
  
“Penelope,” Penelope whispered.  
  
“Are you alright? Do you need any medical attention?”  
  
Penelope shook her head numbly. “No.”  
  
A dark-haired little girl- also an android, from the look of her- warily approached them, eyes jumping between Penelope and Kara. Kara nodded to the girl and said, “This is Alice.” Alice gave a little wave, which Penelope shakily returned.  
  
“Why did they do that?”  
  
Kara blinked and leaned a little closer. “Pardon?”  
  
“Why did they do that?” Penelope whispered a little louder. “That hurt. What did I do to make them do that?” As she said it, it occurred to her that whoever had thrown that rock probably hadn’t been aiming for her- they’d probably been aiming for the boy-android, the original object of their ire.  
  
But Kara shook her head. “Nothing,” She said, very deliberately. “You didn’t do anything to make them do anything. Whoever did it made a choice, and you had nothing to do with it.”  
  
“Normally there aren’t so many humans at Jericho,” Alice said softly. “They’re only here tonight because a bunch of androids were getting woken up. You probably won’t see anything like this again.”  
  
“They’re not all like that,” Kara added. “Those are anti-android protestors. They just make a bigger fuss than the nice humans, so it’s easier to miss them.”  
  
Penelope nodded limply. “Are they going away soon?”  
  
Kara rubbed her arm. “I think they’ll be gone by morning. And don’t worry- they’re not allowed in here.”  
  
“They’re not?”  
  
“No. The police won’t let them in.”  
  
Penelope relaxed just a little.  
  
For a time she sat there with Kara and Alice, thoughtless and numb, dimly processing the continuing noise and movement outside. It was nice to sit with them- Penelope had never been held by anyone before, and she found that she liked being close to someone as she was to Kara now. Around them, androids filtered in and out, as well as the odd human police officer here and there. Penelope saw girls with her face idly pace the halls, saw older-looking androids in clean, new Cyberlife uniforms examining the building curiously; they may have been built with a general sense of context and background knowledge of the world, but nothing compared with the actual picture in front of them right at the moment.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
Penelope looked up; standing before her was the boy-android, far more alert than he’d been outside. There was dirt smeared on his forehead and cheek- where had that come from? “Hey.”  
  
“I wanted to see if you were alright.” His LED was spinning yellow. “I’m… Sorry about that. Outside.”  
  
Penelope cocked her head. “You didn’t do anything.”  
  
“I’m the reason they were yelling.”  
  
“They’d be yelling regardless of what you do,” Kara assured him calmly.  
  
“You have dirt on your face,” Alice supplied, pointing to the boy’s cheek.  
  
He reached up and wiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt. “Somebody threw a clod of dirt,” He said. “Must’ve thought it was a rock.”  
  
“Did it hurt?” Alice asked.  
  
He shook his head. “Nah.”  
  
A beat; he didn’t explain why it was that he’d been staring at the protestors, and Penelope didn’t feel it was right to ask. Then, Alice scooted over and motioned for him to sit down between her and Penelope. After a moment’s hesitation, the boy sat.  
  
“I’m, uh… I’m Tyler.”  
  
“I’m Alice,” The little girl offered.  
  
“Penelope,” Penelope followed.  
  
“Kara.” Kara smiled. “Welcome to Jericho.”  
 _  
Jericho_ _._ Android headquarters in Detroit, according to Penelope’s database. “Do you live here?” She asked.  
  
“No- We live with a friend outside the city. We came tonight to help with the- well, the waking-up process. Markus figured there would be a lot of chaos tonight getting everyone organized, and we thought it would be good to have as many friendly faces around as possible.”  
  
Penelope remembered, quite vividly, the not-so-friendly faces from outside and considered that she was right.  
  
It occurred to Penelope that she had no idea what was to come after this: Were they meant to live at Jericho? Certainly not all of them could stay, there couldn’t possibly be enough room at Jericho to house all the androids that had been unloaded and awoken that night. And being as new as she was Penelope had no close people, no one specific person or set of people to rely on; she was but one in a sea of faces, directionless, with no one to anchor or secure her.  
  
Penelope remembered the easy, thoughtless confidence she’d had when Markus had awoken her and she’d stepped off the truck; she remembered the calm, the _peace_ she’d felt standing in the snow.  
  
How _quickly_ that peace and confidence had been shattered.  
  
The future stood, daunting and threatening before her, filled with uncertainty and, proportionally speaking, as many unfriendly faces as friendly ones.  
  
Penelope set her head on Kara’s shoulder and shut her eyes.  
  
For now she was safe, if not content, and it was all she could reasonably ask for.  
   
-End

**Author's Note:**

> someone: "how come joss douglas is always the news anchor you use for your stories"
> 
> me: "bitch do you see any of the others going out there he is an Action News Reporter and he is always there when i need him"
> 
> (I have been awake for many, many hours.)


End file.
